Jamie Mcmurray

The talk that has been going around the NASCAR circuit is crazy. It all has to do with what is up with Hendrick Motorsports. Well if you have been following along on the Mike?s Garage forum at www.miseasons.com , you would not be in the panic mode like most. Five races had passed before last weekend?s race at Martinsville. The talk was the two top teams at Hendrick were out of the top ten and were scrambling. Five races! Is there sanity any more? Well put Prozac away ? everything is going to be fine.

First, the winners: Kurt Busch - what more can you say about his performance? Two races - two second-place finishes to lead in the point standings going into this race in Vegas. Jimmy Johnson - this guy's for real. Third in points with a great future in front of him in his second year in Winston Cup. Dale Jarrett, after his win last week at The Rock, second in points. Then, there are guys to look out for. Ricky Craven, now eighth in points but has run strong in the first two races.

Wow, what a race at Pocono last weekend. The usually ho-hum race at the Pennsylvania track was just the opposite. The rain mixed in with some pit strategy and NASCAR’s double file restarts took the usually-boring race and made it pretty exciting. It was great to see Greg Biffle pull into victory lane. Unfortunately Biffle’s car owner, Jack Roush, is in the hospital recovering from a plane crash. Maybe a victory will help Jack recover a little faster. It sure won’t hurt as that was Roush’s and Ford’s first victory of the 2010 season.

LAS VEGAS — NASCAR gets into high gear as Las Vegas marks the third race of the 2010 season. Last week, in California, it was two California natives going at it — Kevin Harvick and Jimmie Johnson. Harvick is from Bakersfield, which is just a half-hour drive from Auto Club Speedway in Fontana. Johnson, on the other hand, is from El Cajon, which is about two hours south of the two-mile speedway. It was battle to the end for these two until Harvick nicked the wall — hampering his chances of winning his first Cup race in his home state.

Can you believe it? We are down to the last two races of this Nextel Cup season that started way back in February. Back then there were 25-30 teams with high hopes that this could be their season. For some of them it turned out extremely disappointing. On the good side of things the big news was the comeback of Richard Childress Racing (RCR). Kevin Harvick had been all but forgotten since his arrival in 2001. He started out great as he placed ninth in the Cup standings for the '01 season and looking for better things to come.

It's race No. 10 in a 36-race season to see who will be in the running for this year's NEXTEL Cup. This weekend at Richmond is the start of a run that ends in September. So let the fun begin on a short track that feels like a super speedway. Saturday night the action will start on this three-quarter mile track with so much on the line. The last two years chase contender Jeremy Mayfield has found himself in a tough spot at this point in the season, but this year it's even more difficult because he is 630 points down to point's leader Jimmie Johnson.

The NASCAR season is coming into its final turn with just three races left. With the No. 48 team with 184 point led is there any racing left? Or can we chalk up number four in a row for Jimmie Johnson. Jimmie dodged a big bullet last weekend at Talladega as he held on to his lead in the Chase standings. Johnson just put it on cruise control, as he steered his way through wrecks to come home with a sixth-place finish. The wait-for-the-finish-line-to-come-to-us strategy worked for crew chief Chad Knaus and Johnson.

Six down — 30 to go! When you look at the NASCAR season that way, the first six races don’t seem to mean that much. But on second thought… The NASCAR world seems to have a different look and feel then a year ago. In the first six, ole’ buddy Carl Edwards took Roger Penske’s new driver for the ride of his life in Atlanta, as NASCAR told the drivers to take the gloves off. Edwards did just that. Jamie McMurray goes from looking for a job to winning the Daytona 500, in a true goat-to-hero story.

The NASCAR Cup season started more than 40 weeks and 35 races ago and it is down to one more. Sunday will be the final race in the NASCAR season and it is down to three drivers. Denny Hamlin leads the Chase into Homestead with a 16 point edge over Jimmie Johnson, the man that has won the last four championships. Beh Johnson is Kevin Harvick, just 31 points back of the No. 48 team, and 46 points down to the leader. How close is this? Third-place Kevin Harvick could win the whole thing if he places as little as seven spots better than Denny Hamlin and a minimum of four spots better than Johnson.

The NASCAR Cup season started more than 40 weeks and 35 races ago and it is down to one more. Sunday will be the final race in the NASCAR season and it is down to three drivers. Denny Hamlin leads the Chase into Homestead with a 16 point edge over Jimmie Johnson, the man that has won the last four championships. Beh Johnson is Kevin Harvick, just 31 points back of the No. 48 team, and 46 points down to the leader. How close is this? Third-place Kevin Harvick could win the whole thing if he places as little as seven spots better than Denny Hamlin and a minimum of four spots better than Johnson.

Wow, what a race at Pocono last weekend. The usually ho-hum race at the Pennsylvania track was just the opposite. The rain mixed in with some pit strategy and NASCAR’s double file restarts took the usually-boring race and made it pretty exciting. It was great to see Greg Biffle pull into victory lane. Unfortunately Biffle’s car owner, Jack Roush, is in the hospital recovering from a plane crash. Maybe a victory will help Jack recover a little faster. It sure won’t hurt as that was Roush’s and Ford’s first victory of the 2010 season.

Six down — 30 to go! When you look at the NASCAR season that way, the first six races don’t seem to mean that much. But on second thought… The NASCAR world seems to have a different look and feel then a year ago. In the first six, ole’ buddy Carl Edwards took Roger Penske’s new driver for the ride of his life in Atlanta, as NASCAR told the drivers to take the gloves off. Edwards did just that. Jamie McMurray goes from looking for a job to winning the Daytona 500, in a true goat-to-hero story.

LAS VEGAS — NASCAR gets into high gear as Las Vegas marks the third race of the 2010 season. Last week, in California, it was two California natives going at it — Kevin Harvick and Jimmie Johnson. Harvick is from Bakersfield, which is just a half-hour drive from Auto Club Speedway in Fontana. Johnson, on the other hand, is from El Cajon, which is about two hours south of the two-mile speedway. It was battle to the end for these two until Harvick nicked the wall — hampering his chances of winning his first Cup race in his home state.

The NASCAR season is coming into its final turn with just three races left. With the No. 48 team with 184 point led is there any racing left? Or can we chalk up number four in a row for Jimmie Johnson. Jimmie dodged a big bullet last weekend at Talladega as he held on to his lead in the Chase standings. Johnson just put it on cruise control, as he steered his way through wrecks to come home with a sixth-place finish. The wait-for-the-finish-line-to-come-to-us strategy worked for crew chief Chad Knaus and Johnson.

The talk that has been going around the NASCAR circuit is crazy. It all has to do with what is up with Hendrick Motorsports. Well if you have been following along on the Mike?s Garage forum at www.miseasons.com , you would not be in the panic mode like most. Five races had passed before last weekend?s race at Martinsville. The talk was the two top teams at Hendrick were out of the top ten and were scrambling. Five races! Is there sanity any more? Well put Prozac away ? everything is going to be fine.

Can you believe it? We are down to the last two races of this Nextel Cup season that started way back in February. Back then there were 25-30 teams with high hopes that this could be their season. For some of them it turned out extremely disappointing. On the good side of things the big news was the comeback of Richard Childress Racing (RCR). Kevin Harvick had been all but forgotten since his arrival in 2001. He started out great as he placed ninth in the Cup standings for the '01 season and looking for better things to come.

It's race No. 10 in a 36-race season to see who will be in the running for this year's NEXTEL Cup. This weekend at Richmond is the start of a run that ends in September. So let the fun begin on a short track that feels like a super speedway. Saturday night the action will start on this three-quarter mile track with so much on the line. The last two years chase contender Jeremy Mayfield has found himself in a tough spot at this point in the season, but this year it's even more difficult because he is 630 points down to point's leader Jimmie Johnson.

First, the winners: Kurt Busch - what more can you say about his performance? Two races - two second-place finishes to lead in the point standings going into this race in Vegas. Jimmy Johnson - this guy's for real. Third in points with a great future in front of him in his second year in Winston Cup. Dale Jarrett, after his win last week at The Rock, second in points. Then, there are guys to look out for. Ricky Craven, now eighth in points but has run strong in the first two races.